Raffy

Raffy has had his struggles this year. I suppose we can claim that he is still kinda getting his feet wet after the back surgery last year. I guess.... with only 5 stolen bases and 4 caught stealing... well, his speed is obviously gone. And really it has been a tale of two Raffy's. When leading off he is batting 278/350/377. When batting behind Pierre he is 201/272/276. All the more reason to dump Pierre now while his stock is kinda high. It's not like we dont have a few guys that could fill that 4th ourfielder spot. I look forward to Furcal breaking out of his shell for the second half. Ofcourse, through July so far he is 372/460/558. So there!

Orlando!

I hate to say something like this, but Orlando is kinda overrated. His offense has been nice and his defense is certainly an improvement over Kant. But... he really lacks the range now that he is 32. His bat has been a surprisingly solid structure in a very weak lineup. He gets on base and hits for decent power. He also has a ton of K's. His recent struggles at the plate are typical ups and downs of playing in the majors and we can expect him to return to his career norms. Certainly not as hot as he was when the season started, but not near as cold as he was entering Milwaukee. At the moment there is no one else I'd want at second for the rest of this year. Good job Orlando... stay healthy.

James Loney

Another dissappointing season for James. Like last year, James is a singles hitter that makes a lot of contact, but rarely makes good contact. His power numbers have also dipped, at least from what is expected of him.

At the plate James ranks near the bottom of all qualified first basemen just above Casey Kotchman and below Adam Laroche. With the glove he is merely league average. He isn't as bad as Giambi or Prince, but even Ryan Howard has proven to be able to play a good first base. Even with an admirable second baseman that can cover more ground that Kent, James is still just a league average player. This is a position where I think the Dodgers can vastly upgrade their offense, especially while Loneys stock is still relatively high. He may still have a bright future, but I can't see it getting much better than what he already is. League Average. I like him, nice guy, crazy eyes, but just a singles hitter. I expect better, and I don't think James is the guy that can do that for us.

First half roundup - Russell

Russell has been the biggest dissappointment by far this year. His defense will always be pretty good, but he wont ever throw many batters out because it seems that Charlie Hough (though has worked wonders in James Macdonald) hasn't taught any of our pitchers to hold runners on, or a decent change up. But thats a different story.

At the plate J. Martin has shown no power, but a huge walk rate. Are pitchers pitching around him? It seems that Russell is trying to force the issue too much. He's trying to force the ball to left or to right. He gets a little clogged in his swing and maybe tenses up. I don't know, but whatever it is, he needs to figure it out, because the bullpenn is short a bit and someone other than Manny is going to have to start producing. The good news is that Russ appears to be playing better. He really needs to get out there and not have an agenda. Just react to the pitch and hit it solid. Sounds easy huh? hah.

Trade ideas... 3 moves at the break

I think this was the entire reason that I created this blog. So I can vent my backward ideas without having to madden the people with real baseball identities. The ideas I have are usually based on a video game version of what I think is possible and are so unlikely that I would have better luck at actually trying to become the GM of the Dodgers and propose the actual trades.

Anyway, here goes. Let me first off say that I love the current Dodger team. Great chemistry, home grown, young, talent, with huge upside. But...

I would first trade Russell Martin to the Blue Jays for Roy Halladay. Straight up. Maybe there are a few PTBNL types, but nothing to write home about. Russell has denied the Dodgers from locking him up to a long term, lucrative deal and it seems likely that he will hit the free agent market in 3 years and leave LA. He is the spine of the best team in baseball. The hard part is that at the moment he is struggling mightily. I love Russell, but he is Canadian and I have a feeling that he wont be around for the long haul anyway.

2) Trade McDonals, Elbert, Bell, Mattingly, and Lucas May for Victor Martinez.

3) Trade Loney and Pierre for Todd Helton.

I'm almost certain that all my trades are just a ploy on ridding myself of Juan Pierre.

Our lineup is significantly stronger and our pitching staff is unbeatable. Then I would try and address the bullpenn. But really, the only person I want at the moment that wont cost much would be Takashi Saito, of all people. It looks like Broxton might miss some time and Belli will certainly be out a few more weeks. Saito might be an easy get for Ned.

Furcal
Kemp
V-Mart
Manny
Helton
Blake
Ethier
Huddy
P

Loretta
Meintchavatichithcaz
Ausmus
Castro
Paul

Halladay
Bills
Kershaw
Kuroda
Wolf

Broxton
Tron
Belli
Saito
Leach
Mota
Weaver

Doesn't get any better than that!

All Star Break

While the Dodgers have comfortably padded their lead in the NL West, its surprising to see that the next best team in the NL is the Giants. At 7 games back they are better than the Cardinals (1st in central) and Phillies (1st in east). And the Rockies are only 2 games back from the Giants. Only the Padres and D-Backs are the true jokes of the NL West. AND, the NL West is no longer the basement of the NL.

Tomorrow I will try and put together some stats that explain Furcal, Loney, and Martin's poor first halves, and then rank each position player in the NL.